Governance, agency and place leadership: lessons from a cross-national analysis

This paper argues that few accounts of place leadership have found an appropriate balance between structural and individual processes, resulting, on the one hand, in an over-emphasis on the actions of a limited number of charismatic leaders and, on the other hand, in structural analyses blind to the decisions and actions of individuals and groups. This paper attempts to offer a more balanced perspective through the examination of leadership in two, contrasting, sets of circumstances. It uses the differing economic, political, administrative and social structures evident in Finland and South Australia to understand better the ways in which structural conditions encourage, or limit, place leadership.